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II.
in winter quarters
[toward the end of December, the army being then well settled in winter quarters,
Lyman obtained leave of absence, passed
Christmas at home, and returned to the army about the middle of January.
He found Headquarters almost deserted,
General Meade sick in
Philadelphia with an attack of inflammation of the lungs,
General Humphreys, and his tent-
mate Rosencrantz, away on leave of absence, and
Barstow sick and weak, with a cold on the lungs.]
Yesterday came
General Humphreys, to my great content.
His son, with Worth and myself, rode down to bid him welcome.
Such a sea of mud round
Brandy Station was enough to engulf the most hardy.
There is no platform to get on; nothing but the driest spot in the mud. You should have seen the countenances of the unfortunate officers' wives, as they surveyed, from the height of the platform, this broad expanse of pap!
Then the husband would appear, in great excitement, and encourage them to descend, which they presently would do, and dab across to an ambulance, seeming mutely to say, that this wasn't quite what they expected.
The neat General (who left in hard weather) was entirely aghast, and said, in painful accents, “What!
must I get down
there? Oh, the deuce!”
I do believe that officers will next be trying to bring down grand pianos.
You needn't talk of coming here with
